The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
It is common for participants of organized sporting events to be provided with water or other beverages for hydration during the contest. Whether the event is at the high school, college, or professional level, each team typically has one or more assistants who are responsible for providing beverages to the athletes.
Owing to the minimal facilities that are often available during outdoor events, the most common means for providing the beverages is through the use of refillable water bottles that are shared by everyone. In this regard, the bottles are typically filled by removing the cap and filling the topless bottle with a hose, igloo cooler/dispenser, or by physically dunking the bottle into a central cooler that contains a beverage. During this process, contaminants such as dirt, grass and other forms of debris located along the outside of the bottles and/or the assistants' hands are transferred into the beverage and ultimately consumed by the players. Aside from exposing the players to illness, this cumbersome process typically causes a significant portion of the beverage within the water bottle to become spilled before the assistant can replace the cap. As such, it is not uncommon for athletes to be handed a water bottle that is dirty and empty.
Although there are many known systems for providing beverages to players that do not utilize water bottles, such systems can only be used when the player is not on the field. As such, the need for portable water bottles that can be quickly and easily used by players on the field (during timeouts, for example) remains, and is not likely to change in the foreseeable future.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a portable station that can quickly and easily fill multiple water bottles or other such devices in a sanitary manner that does not suffer from the drawbacks described above. It would also be beneficial if the portable station could simultaneously supply beverages to a plurality of users without the use of portable water bottles.